Middle Street School Fund

The Governors of Middle Street Primary School have set up a charity, called Middle Street School Fund, in order to collect voluntary contributions to financially support the school.

Why do we need financial support?

The government is imposing real term funding cuts on schools by freezing per-pupil funding while inflation and cost of employer pension and national insurance contributions increase. This has forced us to make significant cuts to staffing levels, curriculum and other budgets.

With the help of voluntary contributions we hope to reduce the impact of these cuts on the broad educational experience we have always aspired to at Middle Street Primary School.

Shouldn’t the government be funding the school better?

Yes they should! We have campaigned, and will continue to campaign for all schools to be funded at a sensible and sustainable level. In particular we will continue to campaign with Save Our Schools to keep up the pressure on central government.

In the meantime, our school desperately needs additional funds and so the school governors have reluctantly set up this charity in order to collect voluntary contributions from those who can help the school financially.

Who can contribute?

Anyone! Not just parents and carers. So please spread the word to grandparents, friends, past students and their families and anyone who might be interested in financially supporting the school.

How can I contribute?

If you use online banking then the simplest way to contribute will be online. We are particularly hoping that some people will decide to make a repeating donation of £10 or £20 a month by setting up a standing order. But, any donation will be extremely welcome!

Some Frequently Asked Questions

Do we have to donate money?No, not at all. The school is not asking every family to make a particular termly donation, which is what some other schools have done. The governors have just set up a charity whose sole purpose is to help support the school financially. Anyone, including grandparents or friends or whomever is welcome to donate money to that charity if they want to help support the school in that way.

Will the teachers know if we do or don’t donate some money?No, the staff working with parents and children will not be able to see that information.

Is the school in financial trouble?Many schools are experiencing extreme pressure on their budgets at the moment. This financial pressure is not happening because of mis-management of the school budget. It is happening to many schools in England because of decreasing real term national funding and also changes to the rules regarding local funding. In order to weather the storm we have already had to make redundancies and we really don’t want to make any more. We are trying to maximize any income generation opportunities such as by renting out the new Studio where the nursery used to be. We have also been drilling down on operational costs having to micro-manage all expenditure.

With costs continuing to rise faster than our funding we fear that any further cuts could leave us short of essential items such as teaching resources and in the worst case, staffing. That is why any voluntary financial contributions would be extremely welcome.

We remain optimistic that the government will see sense soon and recognise the effect their funding strategy is having on schools in the UK so that we can resume the operation of a healthy and fit for purpose school budget!

What will the donated money be spent on?All money raised by the Middle Street School Fund will go to support the educational experience of the children at Middle Street Primary School.

This may range from simply buying pens and paper through to things like funding additional Teaching Assistant hours; employing a music specialist; bringing in theatre groups; or investing in professional development training for the teachers. The additional funding will be targeted to help secure the staffing and resource levels that we know are necessary in order to deliver the excellent educational experience we’ve always aspired to.

Specific funding decisions will be made by the trustees of the charity in discussion with the governors of the school in light of the most important financial pressures on the school budget. Then the supporters’ newsletter will let all financial supporters know how the money is being used.

But what about FFOMSS, I thought FFOMSS raises money for the school?FFOMSS is what other schools call their parent, teacher association and yes they do fundraising as well, but their focus is more on events and activities that are fun for families and that raise money for specific resources and projects to enrich the curriculum. If you would like to get involved with FFOMSS they would love it! Get in touch with them by emailing to: friendsofmiddlestreet@gmail.com

The school fund has a much simpler focus just on collecting donations from whomever wants to support the school financially.

Is Middle Street School Fund a registered charity?Yes, the charity is registered with the Charity Commission as charity number 1176330.

Can I Gift Aid my donations?Yes, if you are a UK taxpayer, Middle Street School Fund can claim from HMRC an additional 25p on every £1 that you donate. However, we can only do this if you make a Gift Aid declaration confirming that we can collect this additional money from the taxes you have paid to HMRC.

For online donations please also use your name as the reference for the payment so that we can link your donations with your Gift Aid declaration.

To make a Gift Aid declaration please either:

download, print out, fill in and return the PDF form at the bottom of this page;